However, for a long time, private entrepreneurs were eyed suspiciously by the Chinese government and denied Party membership.

Today, he is one of the Party's most influential members and was among the roughly 30 delegates to the 18th Party Congress from the private sector.

He denied, though, that he might be elected to the Central Committee, the 370-strong body that ostensibly chooses the Politburo and its standing committee. He said speculation at his elevation was simply "chasing the wind and clutching at shadows".

Xi Jinping, the incoming Chinese president, has a glamorous second wife, the 49-year-old folk singer Peng Liyuan. Chairman Mao, meanwhile, had four wives and a legendary appetite for the fairer sex.